1. Field
Example embodiments generally relate to an image carrier surface treatment device, a process cartridge, and an image forming apparatus, and more particularly, to an image carrier surface treatment device for performing surface treatment of an image carrier and a process cartridge and an image forming apparatus incorporating the image carrier surface treatment device.
2. Discussion of the Background
Related-art image forming apparatuses, such as copiers, facsimile machines, printers, or multifunction printers having two or more of copying, printing, scanning, facsimile, plotter, and other functions, typically form an image on a recording medium according to image data. Thus, for example, a charger uniformly charges a surface of a photoconductive drum serving as an image carrier rotatable in a given direction of rotation; an optical writer emits a light beam onto the charged surface of the photoconductive drum to form an electrostatic latent image on the photoconductive drum according to the image data; a development device supplies toner to the electrostatic latent image formed on the photoconductive drum to render the electrostatic latent image visible as a toner image; the toner image is directly transferred from the photoconductive drum onto a recording medium or is indirectly transferred from the photoconductive drum onto a recording medium via an intermediate transfer belt; finally, a fixing device applies heat and pressure to the recording medium bearing the toner image to fix the toner image on the recording medium, thus forming the image on the recording medium.
Such image forming apparatuses may further include a cleaning blade that removes residual toner failed to be transferred onto the intermediate transfer belt or a recording medium and therefore remaining on the photoconductive drum therefrom and a lubricant supplier that supplies a lubricant onto the photoconductive drum to decrease friction between the photoconductive drum and the cleaning blade sliding thereover, thus reducing abrasion of the photoconductive drum and the cleaning blade.
For example, the lubricant supplier may be disposed downstream from the cleaning blade in the direction of rotation of the photoconductive drum and include a lubricant application roller that rotates in a given direction of rotation and slides over the photoconductive drum; a solid lubricant in contact with the lubricant application roller; a spring that biases the solid lubricant against the lubricant application roller; and a level blade disposed downstream from the lubricant application roller in the direction of rotation of the photoconductive drum and in contact with the photoconductive drum. As the lubricant application roller slides over the solid lubricant and the photoconductive drum, it scrapes a lubricant off the solid lubricant and applies the scraped lubricant onto the photoconductive drum. Thereafter, the level blade levels the lubricant applied on the photoconductive drum into a thin layer.
As the lubricant application roller rotating in the given direction of rotation slides over both the solid lubricant and the photoconductive drum, the lubricant application roller may create vibration. If the vibration is transmitted to the photoconductive drum abutting the lubricant application roller, the toner image formed on the photoconductive drum may be degraded into a faulty toner image such as a streaky toner image produced by periodical vibration of the photoconductive drum.